THE BLAIRS' PROPERTY EMPIRE

Cherie Blair has paid almost £1million in cash for a house for her daughter.

The three-bedroom maisonette in a Georgian townhouse in central London becomes the eighth home in the Blairs' seemingly ever-expanding portfolio.

It was bought mortgage-free in the names of Mrs Blair and her 22-year-old daughter Kathryn, Land Registry documents show.

Georgian home: The £1m maisonette the Blairs have bought for daughter Kathryn, 22, is in this London town house

The purchase has emerged days before the publication of Tony Blair's memoirs, which are expected to make £5million for charity after the former Prime Minister pledged to donate the profits to a good cause.

But that decision has clearly not left the Blairs short of cash. Their three eldest children now each have a £1million home in central London, all bought with substantial help from their parents.

Moving in: Miss Blair and her two brothers Euan and Nicky all live close to their parents £3.7m mansion in Connaught Square

Kathryn and her older brothers Euan, 26, and Nicky, 24, all live within striking distance of their parents' £3.7million mansion in Connaught Square.

The Blairs have amassed property worth £15million since Mr Blair entered Downing Street in 1997.

Mrs Blair is understood to have paid for the two-storey property for Miss Blair, who until recently studied European law in Strasbourg, where she had a scholarship. She previously studied at the Sorbonne in Paris.

It follows the purchase of a £1.3million Grade II-listed townhouse for Euan and a £1.13million 'lad's pad' for Nicky.

A source close to Mr Blair said: 'It started once they bought a flat for Euan, and after that it was only fair that all the children got a helping hand on to the property ladder.

'Most parents would draw the line at spending so much - it's not far off £3.5million in total - but the Blairs aren't most parents.'

Miss Blair's maisonette boasts three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, dining room and kitchen.

Portfolio: The Blairs outside Number 10. The family has amassed property worth £15million since Tony became Prime Minister in 1997

A team of workmen have been renovating and redecorating the property since the Blairs bought it at the end of July.

They have installed a bespoke designer kitchen and a new bathroom and replaced carpets with stripped wooden floors.

Mrs Blair and her daughter secured the maisonette for a sum £20,000 below its £995,000 asking price.

A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said of the previous owners, company director Kestin Hare and his wife Gemma: 'They did not know about the involvement of the Blairs until the sale was completed.

'The house had been on the market for three to four months, but the sale went through very quickly. It went through on July 20 and the builders moved in the next day.

'It has been very noisy and I hope it is over sooner rather than later. The work has happened very quickly, so presumably she will be moving in soon.'

Main residence: The Blairs' £3.7million mansion in Connaught Square, London

Country pad: The South Pavilion in Wotton Underwood, Buckinghamshire cost £4m

Property empire: The £800,000 mews cottage situated behind their Connaught Square townhouse

Since leaving Downing Street in 2007, Mr Blair is estimated to have made £25million from lectures and lucrative consultancy deals.

He can command up to £170,000 a speech and his memoirs, A Journey, are expected to make about £5million for the Royal British Legion.

* Tony and Cherie Blair have caved in to demands to scale down plans for a sports hall at their country estate at Wotton Underwood, Buckinghamshire, after neighbours and English Heritage complained.